Hey Neighbour! #1
From The Journal of Jules Renard, Edited & Trans. Louise Bogan & Elizabeth Roget (Oregon: Tin House Books, 2008), pp. 33 (ePub edition):
The impulse of the pen. Left alone, thought goes as will. As it follows the pen, it loses its freedom. It wants to go one way, the pen another. It is like a blind man led astray by a cane, and what I come to write is no longer what I wished to write.
I haven’t practiced the piano or made any songs in a few days. Adulthood is often about balancing competing priorities — and heaven knows that I am no gymnast. Time, on the other hand, feels significantly more precious now. Perhaps this is typical in your 30s, but then again, who knows? Life, at least this morning looking outside my window while writing this, feels: bone-chillingly calm, beautiful, and slow. It reminds me of my time in the village and, to be honest, sometimes I miss it. I am becoming quite comfortable inhabiting different states of being. Right now, I am anxious, agitated, calm, content, patient, and also impatient. Simply put, it’s a colourful cocktail. In the past, I’d wallow in the meh emotions or get so frustrated after having tried to kick myself out of it. Now, I am trying to figure out how to function regardless of whatever state I’m in. This is not a form of stoic indifference. It’s more about feeling the emotions but working on the speed of transitioning between states. I watched Jon Batiste’s new documentary, American Symphony, on Netflix. I really enjoyed it but then again, I love, love. You can watch the trailer here to get a sense of what I am talking about. I don’t know how the couple could manage so many conflicting emotions. Besides that, the courage to carve out and follow their own path, regardless of the possible consequences, is quite admirable. Because sometimes such a move pays off, but often it doesn’t. In the documentary, you also see that every overnight success is at least a decade or more in the making. Just how the two of them love and respect each other warms my heart. Batiste’s playfulness and Suleika’s persistence and courage in the face of a dreaded disease like cancer is nothing short of remarkable. There are so many aspects of that documentary to write about, but I am still processing it in my head. Maybe some other time. 💘
Last Saturday, I attended the Hey Neighbour festival with friends. I had gotten tickets for the events several months prior, but two days before the event, I still hadn’t made up my mind to go. My interest had waned, and I was planning to give away my tickets. To be fair, Kendrick wasn’t the only reason I was attending. I was also curious to see how successful large-scale events were organized and executed. Of course, I wasn’t privy to the event planning process, but as with most things, the quality of thought is usually reflected in the outcome or final production. Everything you see in the world is thought made flesh — it first started in an individual’s or a group’s mind. Crappy organization often leads to crappy outcomes. As for this event, being the first of its kind, I wasn’t expecting a hitch free production. Mistakes were inevitable, and that was OK. Generally, unsuccessful events are exceptions, while successful ones are the norm. No one talks about the successful ones. Like someone dear to me always said, ‘no one talks about the train that arrives on time.’ Deep down, I was hoping for a successful event, both for the attendees’ and the organizers’ sakes. You don’t want to burn through that kind of cash only to have everything go to dust. Or worse, you could end up facing a lawsuit, potentially even a criminal one. Crowds, on the other hand, make me anxious, and that fear was becoming more real as the day of the event approached. When I bought the tickets, I was optimistic that my love for Kendrick’s music and my interest in event management would outweigh my anxiety. Thankfully, my friends had also bought tickets because I had, which gave me one more reason to go. You don’t want to let friends down. The event organizers arranged buses for transportation to and from the venue. You had the option to catch a bus from any designated locations, but I wasn’t keen on that. I preferred the flexibility of leaving on a whim, which I couldn’t do if I were to rely on the stipulated bus departure time slots. So, I opted to drive instead. 💋
A day before the event, I gave a ticket to a friend who is quite extroverted. This act became my second incentive to go, as I now couldn’t cancel. On Saturday morning, I completed my usual 10K run and 1k swim at the gym, a routine I try to maintain three or four times a week. After the gym, I was praying and hoping that my exhaustion would lead to a quick nap before the event. My friend had suggested we go early while it was still daylight to take photos, but I don’t particularly enjoy having my photo taken, so I wasn’t thrilled about that. I also wasn’t going to arrive at the festival around 12/1 PM just to see Kendrick, who wouldn’t be performing until 10:45 PM; standing for that long didn’t appeal to me. For me, no musician is worth enduring hours in the sun and cold — it’s not that deep. So, I suggested that we leave Joburg by 6 PM. Since it’s a bit over an hour’s drive, we planned to get there around 7 PM-ish, explore the area, and perhaps check out other acts. In heavily crowded spaces, I prefer to arrive late and leave early, but by all accounts, 6 PM was still relatively early. Arriving later often means you’re parked closer to the exit, which allows for a quicker departure. If you leave just 10 minutes early, you can avoid being stuck in slow-moving traffic for hours just to reach the exit. Due to zero cell network coverage in the area, if you lost sight of your friends, it was likely impossible to meet up with them again. Advice: Have meetup points at a festival where you can rendezvous if one or several of you go missing. When we got there, Zakes was performing. In my opinion, he was quite good. The bass was heavy. I love Bass heavy sounds. It was house music, but his performance looked and felt electrifying. I also observed how people responded to him and his music. His performance kinda made me reconsider my stance on house music. I particularly liked what he was wearing, especially his shoes. My interest in attending the festival was also to see festival fashion. What would people be wearing? What is festival etiquette or appropriate behaviour if there’s any such thing? The VIP section was a tad boring. Apart from the food, there’s probably nothing a VIP pass offers you at most events. [To be continued]. 😽
Next week’s post will be the last one for the year. I am taking a break to enjoy the art of doing nothing. So more bullet points for y’all next week. ‼️
Thanks for reading. If there's anything you'd like to chat about, or if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email. I'd love to hear from you. :)